Uncut Gems Podcast

In this episode of the show we are beginning a brand new month (and season) in our journey through the 80s. We are embarking on what looks like three months of dark, brooding, gritty and somber cinema and we begin this operation with a whole month of Stephen King adaptations from the 1980s. So, we start with the 1983 Cujo . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how Cujo b...

In this episode of the show we are closing the books on our month with Walter Hill in the 80s as well as the entire season of Summer Action Solstice and we do so by talking about the 1987 Extreme Prejudice . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how this movie originated with John Milius and whether it carried on with even a sliver of what it would have looked like if it...

In this podcast we are tying into this month's theme of Walter Hill's directorial exploits in the 1980s with a debate about his biggest hit of the decade (or even his entire career), the 1982 48 Hrs . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how this was a producer-led passion project carried from the 1970s by Larry Gordon and how it introduced the world to Eddie Mur...

In this episode of the show we are continuing our chats about Walter Hill in the 80s by digging into Streets of Fire . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us try to make sense of what this movie is and what it attempts to do, how it tries to function as a heightened musical set outside of time but somehow informed by western iconography and whether it all comes together in the end. W...

In this episode of our ongoing 2026 80s Icons series we are about to find out if it indeed can be killed if it bleeds as we talk about the 1987 Predator . Over the course of our sprawling debate you will hear us recount our early memories connected to this iconic action movie, how Predator was perhaps misunderstood upon release and what made it connect with audiences so profoundly that it spawned...

In this episode of the show we are continuing our September stay at the Walter Hill Saloon and we are discussing the 1981 Southern Comfort . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us recount the grueling production this movie went through, complete with swamp-induced hypothermia, directorial gag orders and alleged animal cruelty. We also discuss the movie as an allegory of the Vietnam W...

In this episode of our 80s Icons series we are carving out time to talk about one of the foremost action heroes of the era, Arnold Schwarzenegger. And on this occasion we are discussing the 1985 Commando . Over the course of our sprawling and detailed debate you will hear us talk about how ridiculously quickly this movie came together, how one of its writers Steven de Souza wanted to show Arnold&#...

In this episode of the show our 80s Action Solstice is entering its final month. Over the course of the next couple of weeks we will be discussing the 80s efforts of Walter Hill and we begin with the 1980 The Long Riders . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about Walter Hill as a filmmaker who had always wanted to make westerns but was born in the wrong era, whether hiring m...

In this episode of the show we are putting a bow on our August trip through Jackie Chan's 80s exploits with the last movie he made in that decade, the 1989 Miracles . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about Miracles being Jackie Chan's favorite movie he ever directed despite the fact it was mostly rejected by paying audiences, the allure of a period piece and the pa...

In this show we are tying into our month of discussions about Jackie Chan in the 80s and we are talking about arguably one of the most daring and and exuberant action movies in his catalogue, Police Story . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how this movie was inspired by Jackie Chan's unfortunate sojourn to Hollywood and how he wanted to make a cop procedural &quo...

In this episode of the show we are talking about the well-known video store cult classic, Armour of God . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us discuss this movie as an evolution in Jackie Chan's career as an action star where he's attempting to imitate a cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond, but with roundhouse kicks and daredevil stunts. We talk about the film's...

THIS PODCAST IS AVAILABLE TO LISTEN FOR FREE ON OUR PATREON!!! In this special episode of our exclusive 80s Icons series, we are joined by a two great friends, Jak and Carson, to talk about one of the most iconic movies of the 1980s, Top Gun . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about Top Gun as an exemplar of the MTV aesthetic, Tony Scott's unmistakable energy, mad ideas...

In this episode of the show we are talking about the 1984 Wheels on Meals as part of our August Voyage to Hong Kong in an attempt to discuss his 80s efforts. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about The Three Dragons (Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao) putting comedy over action, the idea of moving from homaging Buster Keaton to the Three Stooges, and the vagaries of set...

In this episode of the show we are carrying on with our mission to watch a whole bunch of 80s action movies starring Jackie Chan as we are discussing Project A . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the phenomenon of the Three Dragon (Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung), the idea of leaving Wu Xia stories behind and doing a kung fu movie in a more familiar period sett...

We are finally concluding the Mike Nichols Marathon we started all the way back in 2025 and we are doing so in style! We are joined by our great friend Hillary White to talk about Charlie Wilson's War . Over the course of our sprawling conversation you will hear us talk, among others, about this movie commenting on geopolitics of the post-9/11 era, Aaron Sorkin's sharp writing and Tom Hank...

In this episode of the show we are kicking our Summer Action Solstice into a new gear as we are going to spend the entire month discussing the 80s movies starring Jackie Chan. We are beginning this project with a debate about the 1980 The Young Master . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the crazy backstory concerning this movie, how Jackie Chan came to reinvent Kung F...

In this bonus discussion tying into our month of buddy cop action movies we decided to take on a movie that isn't perhaps an example of a buddy genre but it had nonetheless influenced the trend one way or another, the 1984 Beverly Hills Cop . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the many ways in which Eddie Murphy impacted Hollywood, the long and winding history of h...

In this episode, the first part of our Action Solstice where we spent the entire month talking about 80s buddy cop movies is coming to an end. And in that spirit we are ending the series with literally the last action movie of the 80s, released on Christmas 1989, Tango & Cash . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the many trials and tribulations the production of th...

In this episode of the show we are continuing our July chats about buddy cop action movies from the 80s with Stakeout . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about John Badham as a journeyman director whose success was tied to the quality of the script, Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez as a pair of cops who differ only a little and the concept of Rear Window meeting a rom-co...

In this episode of our 80s Icons series we are finally sitting down to talk about the biggest movie of the 80s, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us discuss the many reasons why this movie became the most successful film of all time, how it exemplified what we termed "suburban fantasy" and how it continued confirmed Spielberg in post as one of...

In this episode of the show our trip through buddy cop movies of the 80s continues with the 1987 Dragnet . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how this movie did not after all originate as a potential vehicle for Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi even though it looks like could have, how it spoofs the police procedural genre in ways that is closer to Zucker-Zucker-Abrahams m...

In this penultimate episode of our now long-running Mike Nichols Marathon, we are touching base with Closer . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about Mike Nichols revisiting his dramatic comfort zone and rediscovering the same energy that led him to direct Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Carnal Knowledge , a handful of substantial changes the movie made to Patrick Ma...

In this episode of the show we are officially beginning the Summer of Action where we will spend the next three months talking about 80s action movies, some iconic and some less so. And we begin this journey with a whole month of buddy cop action movies that took hold of the box office in the mid-80s. Our first conversation is about the Peter Hyams-directed Running Scared where you can hear us tal...

In this episode of the show we are closing both our June with John Landis comedies and the entire Spring of Comedy as well with an absurdist gem from the middle of the decade, Three Amigos . Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how it was demonstrably new for Chevy Chase to appear as a part of an ensemble, how Steve Martin smuggled a lot of Monty Python-esque absurd come...

In this bonus tie-in show we are augmenting our June trip through John Landis comedies of the 80s with a conversation about his biggest hit of the decade, the Eddie Murphy-starring Coming to America . Over the course of our chat you will hear us talk about Eddie Murphy's brightly shining star and what this movie meant for his career and how it was a lifeline thrown to Landis who had just emerg...